A player in a casino is presented with a choice from among potentially hundreds of gaming machines. Players develop a preference certain games from among all the ones available, and try various machines to find the ones they like. Given this large choice it can be difficult for a player to find games they like to play.
Multi-game machines offer more than one game on a single electronic gaming machine (EGM). This can dramatically increase the choices available to players, but makes it more difficult for the player to identify games that they like amongst the many games provided. As technology progresses and multi-game machines become more capable the number of games will increase even further as manufacturers entire game libraries could potentially become available on a single machine. Internet gaming web sites have the same problem, with many games available via the one gaming terminal (eg a home computer).
Gaming machines in a Casino are often networked for the purposes of security, accounting, credit transfer, bonusing, and for player marketing. These systems typically track players using a magnetic card that the player inserts into the gaming machine, the magnetic card being associated with a player account on a central server. U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,951 (Harlick) shows a system for networking gaming machines to provide a credit transfer mechanism between machines and a central cashier station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,961 (Acres) shows a bonusing system, in which player tracking is provided via a magnetic card carried by a player and which the player inserts into a magnetic card reader in a gaming machine to identify the player to the machine and/or the entire system.
Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.